Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Boy In The Closet ❯ Almost Left Behind ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A.N: Thanks for the reviews it means so much! I think the next chapter will come sooner than later because the other two fics are boring me right now and I'm a little stuck hahaha. Thank you for reading! Enjoy the chapter. Fantasy.

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Gaara woke up in complete blackness. Should it be this dark for nighttime? He sits up feeling a hard flat surface beneath him; patting his hands down onto whatever it is he's sitting on, he confirms that its the floor. What am I doing on the floor? Where am I? Stretching his hands out, he feels through the darkness for something- anything that could tell him where he is. His eyes that feel heavy with sleep, lids puffy from the act, begin to adjust to the darkness and the young boy can see a strip of light beside him. I'm in my closet. Reaching for the knob he misses it, grabbing for it again he latches a hold of it then gives it a turn but the door refused to pop open.

Panicked he shakes the knob as hard as he can until finally the door swings open. He knew his family didn't like him but locking him in the closet was too much. Gaara grit his teeth from the fall to the floor, opening his eyes then having to shield them abruptly from the blinding sun coming in through the blinds. "Da-..." He coughs due to the lack of use of his voice for so long. Clearing his throat as he attempts cracking his eyes, he calls out again. "D- Dad! Yashamaru!"

His eyes open up to find that his once cozy little bedroom with its toys and games, bed, posters and such were gone! The room is completely empty! Remembering briefly that he wasn't alone in the closet, he turns around. "Kuma-sama."

Scrambling to his feet Gaara retrieves his beloved bear from the dusty floor then he walks over to the window and looks out. There's a moving truck in front of the house. We're moving? Running out of the room as quickly as he can his green eyes glance into his brothers room- empty, then his sisters room- empty. He didn't need to look into his fathers and nanny's room to know that they would also be empty. His family wouldn't really try to move without him would they? The buckles of the overalls, he's wearing beneath his shirt, jingle as he runs through the big house to the front door.

"Don't leave me," he says over and over on his way downstairs. "Don't leave me!" When he pulled the door open he frowned. He didn't see his family's car. Yashamaru. He would be at home sleeping like he always is when he's not watching me; my uncle wouldn't move with us. I'll go to his place. A small smile broke out over his face as he walks out the door. He can still make it! He can go with them! They probably didn't wanna wake him up; with his illness Gaara is unable to fall asleep or even so much as yawn because he's tired. It's been a problem his whole life, being alone in the big house while his family slept the night away. He never knew what to do and often pissed them off when he watched television or played music or games. He finally disciplined his self enough to just sit in his room and quietly talk to his bear. Gaara had to admit he did feel somewhat better knowing that he was getting better and that maybe someday he would be able to fall asleep like any normal person... but it was kind of odd that they would let him sleep in his closet.

Ready to run to his uncles, Gaara blinked in confusion seeing that he's back in his bedroom. What? His breathing grew frantic as he traveled downstairs again. He isn't crazy, he knows he's heading downstairs, he can see that he's doing it! Opening the front door he steps outside and-... again, his bedroom. This time, he stomped. He stomped down the stairs and with this slow but powerful pace he's noticing that there is a lot of dust everywhere. How did he miss that? Come to think of it, the house is really dusty. Stopping in the hallway, Gaara looks around him; the whole house looked to be in need of a good- years worth of cleaning. So then why-....

Where are my foot prints? He wonders when he looks down and sees no trace of his recent cardio activity of running through the house. Normally walking through this kind of dust and with socks on there would be a trail- kind of like walking through snow, but the the floor looks completely untouched. Not only that but he isn't even tired. That's when everything slowly started to hit him.... no foot prints, an empty house, sleeping.

His breaths were becoming more ragged as the thoughts replayed themselves to him. He ran upstairs to his bedroom and looked in the closet where he had awoke only to find a small scattered patch of dust on the floor where Kuma-sama was laying, but the space he had rested on was still thickly coated with dust. It can't be. He won't believe it... But what other explanation is there?

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

The Hatake family turned their heads toward the house. Where did that strange, strangled sound come from? It was creepy.

"What was that?" Asked Lee, bouncing a box higher into his arms so he wouldn't drop it.

His fathers shook their heads, they've never heard a sound like that before.

"Maybe someone's cat got ran over- I saw a lot of strays on the drive over here." Says Gai.

"A cat can sound like that?" It sounded more like a scream to Lee.

"Let's get this stuff into the house and we can worry about that later." Says Kakashi, walking the largest box toward the old home.

....How can this be? Thinks the sad young boy. How can I be.... dead? His hands stroke his dusty bear. He wondered how he could hold his beloved bear but barely anything else. He went into his sisters room and tried opening the closet door but he couldn't touch the knob, it wasn't until his anger flared that he couldn't do it that made his hand grab the knob and finally pull it open. Gaara reset his little trap; he remembered doing that that day... so then when did he? His sleepless eyes began to water. How could this happen to him? He wondered over and over.

"Go on and pick a room Lee, you can have any one you want." A mans voice called from downstairs in his home.

Not long after that Gaara can hear the sound of someone rushing up the stairs calling out with excitement as he looked around. Leaning over onto his knees, he cracks the closet door open and peeks out just missing who the intruder is, but he saw a green and blue blur go by so they must be heading to his brother or sisters room. Standing, Gaara walked out of the closet and into the hall following the coughs the boy was making. The young boy got to his sisters room in time to watch this strange boy open the window to let some fresh air in.

"That's better." He said.

Cocking his head, he steps into the room, cautiously as if this strange looking child would turn and see him.

"Maybe I'll take this room? It's got a nice view of the side of the house." He leans further out the window. "I think I can see clean down the street." Coming back into the room, he missed Gaara walking past him to look out at the view his sister would see a hundred times. Nothing special.

His window has a view of the front yard. He liked to watch the neighbors and his Dad and uncle Yashamaru come and go; waving to them seemed to be the only contact he got from them as they would wave back before leaving. Did they just enjoy saying good bye to me? He had to wonder.

"I wonder how big the closet is?" The child opened the door and screamed bloody murder at the sight of a deformed doll swinging down at him from the shelf. In fact the boy actually blacked out!

Gaara smiled at that, wondering if his sister reacted the same way when she opened the door to change her clothes for the night. Good thing she left it there when they-.... The young boy stepped closer to the child to get a look at him when he heard the parents coming he moved quickly out of the way.

"Lee!!!" Called a man that looked almost exactly like him- at least with the hair cut and the eyebrows. He knelt down beside this 'Lee' and propped him up in his arms. "Lee? Lee wake up?" He shakes him. "What could have happened to him?"

Examining the frightening looking doll that dangles from the door, the man with gray hair says. "There's a chance it was this." He holds the doll out to the other male.

Making a disgusted sound, he shakes his head. "What kind of sick person would do something like that."

"It's actually pretty funny." Says the man that holds the doll. Actually with the way this 'Lee' is laying, so lifeless and still, you'd think they both had dolls. "We've got unpacking to do, wake him up so we can finish. We still have to get beds for Neji and Sasuke."

"Right!" He dropped Lee to the floor and the young boy groaned.

"What happened?" He asked while scratching his popped head, then he jumped back with a yelp seeing what had scared him in the first place. "What is that thing?!"

"It's just a disfigured doll. Nothing to lose your head about." He said popping the head from the ugly doll baby. "Right Lee?"

"Aha, right." He seemed to be embarrassed about it. Shaking off the pop, he stands up. "I'll just pick a different room."

The man with gray hair laughed. "Are you afraid she'll haunt you for opening her tooomb?" He laughed chasing the boy from the room.

"Chichioya!" Says Lee. "I'm fifteen, I don't believe in hauntings and cursed dolls."

"Than why are you running?" He teased him all the way out of the house.

The taller version of Lee laughed. "This is the best idea I've ever had. A real family." He closed his eyes in muse. "Maaan this brings me back to my childhood." Opening them as though he had just thought of something, the man dashes from the room calling out to his other two members. "Did I tell you guys about my family of six brothers and five sisters?" He exaggerated.

How dare they... How dare they come into my home and act like a loving-... He doesn't even wanna say the word! He knew what he had to do; its what anyone in his position would do, Gaara is going to haunt them until they leave his home and him alone... for good.

Gaara joined the man with the bobcut, he found out is named Gai, in the shower. He set a bar of soap onto the floor so that the man would slip. It didn't work- in fact the jerk actually picked it up and sang with it! Weirdo. Later that day he tried scaring him again by writing something on the wall but he just went over it with paint! It was like he didn't even see it!

Gaara learned that his strength comes from emotions, the stronger they are the more he can do. Hatred seemed to be working for him the most and he hates this family something fierce! Every little thing they do gets on his nerves and on Wednesday that boy Lee had the nerve to mess with his bear!

Gaara tried for the man with gray hair, Kakashi. He didn't strike him as the type to be an easy scare and he wasn't. Moving things that the man set down, he blamed on a non-existant draft in the house. Writings on the wall he blamed on his family, calling them sloppy and that they should have cleaned the place up before leaving. He tried whispering cruel things to him in his sleep but he just wound up telling his lover that he talked in his sleep the next morning over breakfast. That was another thing that Gaara found to be odd about this family. There was no mother. No one even mentioned her within the three weeks they've been there. And these two men have had relations, he heard them. That being known, he left the older men alone.

Gaara took Saturday off to plan his actions on scaring the family out which is why on Sunday he came up with a brilliant idea. He suspected that Lee believed someone was in the house because sometimes when he would stand around him he would look slowly over his shoulder- right in his direction. It alarmed him at first, people shouldn't see ghost, but the boy often just brushed the back of his neck with his hand and ignored him. The kid seemed to be having a hard time at school too from what he could tell since he told Kuma about it nearly every night. How the kids went into calling him by his old nick-name of fuzzy brows thanks to this one blond kid. Gaara was pretty sure this one blond kid Lee spoke of was Naruto since the boy had playful little nick-names for him as well. But who cares about this kid anyway, he had scaring to do.

Cracking the closet door to his bedroom open, he peeks out at the child. Can you believe he chose to sleep in his bedroom? Watching him hug his bear, he cocked his head in question. Could Lee maybe hear him while he's half asleep?

Creeping up along side of the bed, he whispers. "Get out of my house."

"Hmm." The boy rolled over, but he seemed to respond even though his voice was sleepy.

"Get out!" He shouted this time.

Lee sat straight up in bed, looking about the room. Gaara could feel his fear strengthening him. Looking around he reached for the lamp string giving it a swift tug and luckily the light switched on. Lee jumped from start and quickly dashed out of bed shouting-

"Otousan!"

Gaara snickered before grabbing his bear and returning to his closet. If only that had been enough. Because its been three months now and the family has long since been ignoring him. Even Lee was writing him off as a rough night. So Gaara just existed with them, walked around and observed them. Up until today, when Kakashi said that he was getting the other two he mentioned when they first moved in- Sasuke and Neji. When he talked about the adoption center being a bit out of the way the 13 year old that should be 15 put it all into place. But it still didn't explain why Lee looked so much like his Dad Gai. Maybe the man used to be married to a woman and that's his real kid. It could happen. But then again Yashamaru once told him that a lot of people in the world have a twin.

These two teens. They were his last chance, they would be the ones to scare to get this family out of his house. Then he can go back to... whatever it is that he planned to do once they leave. Time to plan.

Lee and Gai are cleaning the house up while Kakashi drives out to the orphange to get his new brothers. Lee has been waiting for this day for what felt like his whole life! Someone he could talk to, share with, exchange life stories and such. Kakashi didn't tell them much about them because he didn't know much either, so the two boys wrote them letters of introduction just as Lee had when he was four. It was very exciting to hear about them; Sasuke didn't have much to say about his childhood but he told them that he was moved into a retirement home when his family died. He told a funny story about the elderly and the way one man used to have a new name for him every week and thought the nurses were going nuts whenever they said his real name. Neji was different, he explained his situation very straight forward but said he will be kind as he was raised to be, he then told them about his eye sight and how he can't see in color. Lee found that to be very interesting. It's because of this that he and his Dad are putting a special reflective tape around the house so that when Neji walks around he won't hurt himself when he gets to dark pot holes like the stairs.

The young teen is on the last step, making sure to mash the tape down as hard as he can so it won't peel back when the house warms up or something. All the while he and Gai have been cleaning he knew he was being watched. It was strange to think something like that but he felt like there was someone.... lerking around the old house. He's almost positive that he heard someone speaking to him one night- freaked him out! Even now he hates the thought of being alone for too long because what if this house is haunted or something? He didn't think he could handle things flying about or paying priest to remove the angry spirits.

"Lee are you done with the stairs?" Gai called from somewhere downstairs.

"Yes! I'm about to do the lights now!" He called back. Standing up, he walks down the hall to the light switch thats set in the middle of the hallway, he ripped off a strip of tape slapping it onto the thing when a spot of brown caught his eye. "Heero? How did you get in the hall?" He wondered aloud.

Lee found a stuffed bear in the closet of his room when he went to put his clothes away when they moved in; that was another thing that he found to be odd about the house, the family that used to live here left a lot of toys behind, wouldn't they miss them? The bear had on little cover-alls only pulled halfway up though, like whomever was dressing it stopped caring or forgot to pull them completely off. He wasn't sure. But in the three months they've lived here the bear has been popping up around the house and he's sure he wasn't moving it.

Picking the animal up, he tosses it into his room on the bed. "There you go. Stay where I leave you this time."

"Can you help me with the dust, son! I need you to hold the pan."

"I'm coming!" He paused before running off- did his closet door just pop open? He stared for a moment, then shrugged it off as old floor boards.

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Sasuke walked into the front office of a big building Nurse Tangumi drove him to. Mrs. Tangumi signed a sheet for him and said she would stick around and wait with him until his new father came but he said he could handle it. He's fourteen! After she left, he took a seat next to a quiet male that is reading a panthlet that he must have taken from the wrack by the desk. He cocked his head to read the front.

"Your new family?" He reads. "Is this your first adoption?"

The boy smirked before looking at him causing the Uchiha to blush; he's never seen eyes that color before a color so lavender they are pale gray. "Do I look like I'd be returned often?" He had a certain posh air about him.

Sasuke shook his head. "It's my first time too; I just thought I might run into an old pro who could tell me what it's like."

"Can't help you there." Holding out his hand, he says. "Hyuuga Neji."

"Noriyuki Sasuke, nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

The two sit quietly for a bit. Neji put his panthlet down and stared at the time on the wall. Sasuke seemed to be searching for something to say, when it came to him. "How long have you been waiting for a family."

His new friend had to think about that. "Its been two years now and three months."

"Same as me." After another thought he said. "Hyuuga? Wasn't your family on tv a while back?"

"Yes. That's why I'm in this situation, I don't wanna live with my uncle and cousins so I put myself up for adoption."

"They said your father killed someone."

"He didn't do it, my uncle, his twin brother did." Neji said tight lipped and with a hint of malice. "But once the lawyer clears his name, I'll be back with my remaining family."

Sasuke nodded to that. "My family died in a break in. I was at a friends over night when it happened." A lie he got used to telling. "I've been in witness protection at an old folks home since."

"That must have sucked."

"It wasn't so bad. And I got a paycheck that added up to be a good pocket of change."

Curious he asks. "How much?"

"130."

Neji nods to that. A tall man with gray hair walked into the building and the two boys perked up to see whom he came for. Turning to his new friend, Sasuke holds out his hand and says. "Looks like we'll be parting soon. It would be nice to see you again Neji."

"Same here."

The woman behind the desk nodded to Kakashi before saying. "Hyuuga Neji and Noriyuki Sasuke, your father is here to pick you up."

"Huh?" They say in unison. Glancing to each other they look surprised that instead of friends they're going to be brothers. This new family thing could work out after all.

Kakashi walked over to them, giving them a look of approval. "Nice. So whose got shotgun?"

The drive over was very comfortable and quiet. His two sons seemed to be soaking in the scenery around them, while Kakashi checked street signs. He's lived here for three months but he still gets turned around sometimes. As he drove and glanced down, Sasuke watched him in the rearview mirror and the fact that one eye had a lack of movement caught his attention.

Kakashi noticed, splaying a hidden smile on his face. "Do I have something in my eye Sasuke?" He asked casually.

"Hmm?"

"I'd better get it out then, wouldn't want abstruction while I'm driving." And as if it were nothing he took one hand from the wheel and pulled his eye from his head! Neji looked shocked but kept his composure while the man polished his eyeball on his shirt, but Sasuke out and out gaped. When Kakashi put it back in he laughed. "I got it knocked out during a war and have worn a glass one since."

Shaking his head, the boy tried to act as though he wasn't noticing it that much at all. "I'm sorry to bring up the memory, I didn't know."

"Forget it. It was a long time ago and not really that serious at the time."

"Can you see from it?" The young teen asked.

"What do you think?"

Neji liked Kakashi. He was more like an older brother rather than a father because the man completely lacked manners and commen kindness of any kind as far as he could tell. "You said you have another adopted son? What's he like?"

"Good kid. But be prepared to see a miniature clone of your Dad Gai."

Neji laughed at that. "Does he admire him that much?"

"I'd say yes, but mostly he looks so much like him you'd think they were cut from the same cloth."

"How old is he?" Asks Sasuke.

"15." He turned a corner driving down a few houses before the car slowed. "And here's the house." The two look out the window at their new home.

...................

"Shoot! That sounds like them- Lee, they're back!"

"So soon!?" They tossed the cleaning items into the broom closet and ran to the sink to wash up. "I wish I had time to change." He mutters while holding his hand out for a dollap of dish soap offered by Gai.

"Just act natural, we wanna make a good impression."

"Right."

.................

Kakashi closed the door and no sooner had they gotten up to the front door did he hear a chair fall. Grabbing the bridge of his half covered face, he shakes his head. I hope Gai isn't trying to act natural. He remembered the first time he did that, it was over the holidays when his mother came by to see her son and meet the man of his dreams. Gai stumbled right into her, smacking a face plant into her chest before falling to the floor taking her, expensive in conversation but cheap in cost dress with him. He never heard the end of it, she brought it up when she visited them after they got Lee, it was during summer break- she said she wanted to pamper the boy thinking she'd never get a grandson. Surprise for her that now she has two and a temporary- so he claims, third.

The three walk up to the front door and Kakashi popped it open revealing a Lee leaning against the exposed piece of the banister while Gai sits on the couch pretending to read.

"Welcome home sons!" He shouted being very unnatural if his lover could say so himself.

Neji took one look at the two of them and hid a laugh. Sasuke was already inside being suffocated by his second father while Lee stood close admiring him.

"I know what you're thinking," says Kakashi off to his side bringing in the bags. "They do bite."

Just then Gai looks up and rushed over to the other boy. "Greetings!" He squeezed him tightly.

"Alright, alright." Said the boy who kept his arms crossed during the attempt to snap him in half.

"Lee, show your brothers to their rooms."

"Okay."

"Kakashi and I are going to pick up dinner." He winked at his partner for their plan to leave their boys alone to get better aquainted.

"Alright." They say all together.

Gai was bursting at the seames! "This day proves to be laced with gold!! We are truly blessed with the spirit of spring in our fortunes." He declared as he and Kakashi walk out the door.

Lee laughed at his fathers youth before turning to his new brothers. "Please follow me in an orderly fashion." Says Lee going upstairs.

Sasuke couldn't help but laugh inside about all of it. Anything is better than living with old people and they all seemed to be really cool people. This was gonna great.